Have you ever found yourself so completely immersed in a task hours flew by unnoticed? Or been so absorbed in what you were doing, the doing became the goal. It’s often when we’re feeling most energised and accomplished and likely to be the effortless state of performance, known as flow.

Flow is referred to as an optimal state of presence and consciousness, where we feel our best and perform at our best. As part of being our best and achieving brilliance I wanted to explore this concept of flow and how we get there more regularly.

When we’re in flow it’s likely we’ll feel full of energy, our productivity will increase, we’ll be more creative and innovative and we feel more confident and happier.

In a 10-year McKinsey study, top executives reported being five times more productive in flow. That would mean if we spent Monday in flow we could literally take the rest of the week off and still have got more done than most.

While most of us spend less than five percent of our work life in flow, if that number could be nudged up closer to 20 percent, according to the same McKinsey study, overall workplace productivity would almost double. That’s a significant shift on the dial where performance is concerned.

Research by flow guru Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi tells us to create flow, an activity must stretch our potential enough to have an even balance between how challenging the activity feels for us, and our level of skill to complete the activity. It is known as the challenge to skill ratio.

Commonly described as being in the zone, totally absorbed in the task, oblivious to everything going on around us and merging at one with the activity. Flow is often attributed the athletes and artists but available to us all.

We only have a finite amount of attention and focus: if we’re spreading them across many activities, it makes sense we’re not going to achieve the same level of quality. If we’re attending a meeting whilst thinking about what’s for dinner, reading the notes from the last meeting and checking our emails, all of those activities are going to be compromised. If we focus all of our energy or attention on one thing, the quality will improve dramatically.

Flow is like mindfulness, which I’ve long thought is the secret to success is so many ways.

When we succumb to the flurry of thoughts running through our head, our minds become chaotic, and we get more and more distracted.

A 2016 study conducted at the US National Institute on Aging found that allowing our mind to be disorganised doesn’t just feel bad – it’s also actually bad for us. A disorganised mind leads to high stress and chronic negativity.

This reminds me of my yoga teacher training. When doing balancing poses we’re always told to find a gaze point (‘Drishti’ in Sanskrit, meaning ‘focused gaze’, used to develop concentrated intention). When we focus our eyes on one, non-moving thing, we find balance so much easier, and our concentration improves. When we’re looking around the room at everyone else, we wobble much more. When we focus on one thing at a time, we make a better job of it.

Tips to create flow

· Practise mindfulness – a present mind is a focused one.

· Do things that use your skills/strengths.

· Develop healthy habits (in terms of sleeping, eating and moving).

· Look for a healthy level of challenge and stretch.

· Take regular breaks.

· Avoid distractions.